Fadwa's Inspirational Blog

My Trip to Beirut - Episode 3

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:28:00 +0000

Come walk with me in Beirut city ... Old buildings alone side new ones .. buildings still riddled with bullet holes, shattered windows, bursting with stories to tell .. some buildings are completely deserted except for the shops occupying the ground floor and open to the street. I felt this was a resilient city .. notice the plants, the fabulous architecture, the iron work and the electricity wires like zentangles across the blue skies.

Something to share

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:00:00 +0000

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:
A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.
To him...
a touch is a blow,
a sound is a noise,
a misfortune is a tragedy,
a joy is an ecstasy,
a friend is a lover,
a lover is a god,
and failure is death.
Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - - - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating."
-Pearl Buck-

My Trip to Beirut - Episode 2

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Episode (2)

No hassles at the Beirut airport (Al Hariri Airport) upon arrival. The usual searches, metal detectors, taking off any jewelry, belt, shoes .. at least this time I was not wearing my metal studded jeans ....

....which I wore on a trip to Spain, talk about fashion statement!! But that's another story. There were a lot of army clad, weapon carrying men - not as handsome as the army clad, weapon carrying security at Rome, boy these Romans are handsome, but that's also another story.

We arrived at the hotel, located in central Beirut (in Arabic Ras Beirut - literally Head of Beirut). The hotel was OK, except for a tiny problem .. when I switched on the light, the light bulb started to smoke and drip water, simaltaneously. The electrician came to fix it, but could not. Solution: use the other smaller, dimmer light above the mirror. To be fair, this was not a 5-star hotel, just your regular run of the mill hotel owned by Syrians, run by Lebanese and with Palestinian illegal employees. You see, Palestinians still live in refugee camps in Beirut and they are not allowed to live or work outside those camps .. but, again, that's another story. (Through my lens: rooftop view of refugee camp and one of the narrow passageways all around the camp).

My Trip to Beirut

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:31:00 +0000

As some of you may know, I recently visited Beirut for the first time as an adult. I was there as a very young child and I don't really remember much. Please remember these are my observations and personal thoughts on my own experience. I do not intend to generalise, but rather to tell you a story though my eyes and with tongue in cheek :-).
Episode (1)

We took Fly Dubai; the price was amazingly cheap and the service was reasonable for an economy flight. But I had a strong feeling that I was in a bus not a plane. There were many empty seats. People walked up and down the isle freely, stopping to chat here and there. Children also roamed the isle just a little more freely than their parents.

At first one poor baby could not stop crying and I thought that was going to be our inflight entertainment for the next three and a half hours.

As it turned out, the real inflight entertainment was people watching :-) .. and the best episode we saw was of this man who was chatting up a woman in a tight and short dress as an older lady who sat next to her, and who I assumed was her mother, was piously covered up.

The man 'subtly' inched his way up the isle until he found a seat opposite hers.

He smiled and said "Bonjourek," the very creative way the Lebanese have of conjoining French and Arabic. 'Bonjour' French for good morning and 'ek' Arabic suffix meaning to you/feminine. (In Amman, Jordan, they have their own way of conjoining Arabic with English - and the youth speak Arabeezi prounced in Arabic it means Arab(ic)-(Eng)lish.

"Bonjourak," she replied. ('ak' to you/masculine).

His eyes shone brightly. At least that's what I'd like to think because I could not see his eyes; he had on his very, very cool and dark sunglasses.

Her eyes must have shone brightly back, but neither I nor he could see them .. yes, she had on her very, very cool and dark sunglasses, too.

Yes, in the plane. You must look cool at all times, and under all circumstances, particularly when chatting up the opposite sex.

And thus, we were intrpoduced to the land of amazing contradictions and creative chaos!

(Street graffiti through my lens).

Arabic Coffee

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Traditional Arabic coffee - Kahwa - served from a traditional 'silver' coffee pot and drank from traditional coffee cups.

There are many flavours, cardomom usually plays a vital role. In the traditional coffee of the Gulf Region (Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, Oman ..) cardomom is the main ingredient. In Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria .. freshly ground coffee beans, previously roasted to varying degrees (light, medium, dark and a mixture of any of those), together with cardomom is served in tiny cups - just like miniture tea cups - with or without sugar.

It Turkey, they call it Turkish coffee and in Greece, Greek coffee - beware of asking for Turkish coffee at some cafe in Athens :-). It Italy, espresso has a very similar flavor.

Honorable Mention in Poetry Competition

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Just wanted to share with you that my poem: When Children Cease to Be received an honorable mention in the Poets for Human Rights poetry competition. Please click to read the announcement and the winning poem. I will be posting the 6 poems that received honorable mention on my gypsy express blog over the coming week. Would love to hear what you think of all this poetry :-)

Which Face?

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:38:00 +0000

Thus Began the Story of Love

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Click to read the story by Jordanian Poet Sultan Rwad - which I translated into English.

To Fight or Not To Fight

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Wanna fight?

Is love always worth fighting for?

When is it not worth fighting for?

What price are you willing to pay for love?

When is not fighting for love actually fighting for it?

Rose wine and oranges

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:24:00 +0000

A glass of Rose, some orange appeal and a little inspiration. Don't you just love the scent of orange zest? And what about the orange blossom? In April, in Spain, the whole atmosphere is scented with orange blossoms; it's highly intoxicating.

I drew the Rose bottle on a separate piece of paper; I liked it, so I cut and pasted it into this page. I felt the background, texture and colour evoked the feel and aroma of the zest and blossoms of oranges, so I did not want to add anything else. I just wrote 'be inspired' around the edges and created a simple border.

I will start posting photos, journal pages and thoughts about my trip to Beirut soon, meanwhile I will share with you the final pages of my recently filled-up journal.

Another Dubai Skyline

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

There are just so many sky scrappers here, with so many different designs. The architecture is stunning and daring. I especially love the use of creative lighting on the exteriors which adds a touch of magic and whimsy at night.

Of course, like every where else around the world, things have slowed down with the economic crisis.. but looking on the positive side, they do make for very pretty outline sketches.

Unfinished spread

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

A spread I've started when I was sitting at Costa but looking at the chili's sign next door. I think this will remain unfinished, at least for the forseeable future. I've just lost interest in it, the poor thing!

Then again, I could always say that that's how I intended it to be. The contrast of the red with the grey of the pencils, the imposing fast food over the relaxing, soft, gentle cup of coffee or, in my case, tea. Maybe it's a statement about our society and how we hide like shadows, like pencil drawings, behind of coffees and teas ..

Another very very short story

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Click here and tell me what you think.
Hugs.

Ugly Page

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Although I do admit that I like the colour of the background and the texture, everything else I've done with this spread is quite yucky. I may one day salvedge it somehow, in the meanwhile I am training my courage to post the ugly ones as well.

Thanks Zom, thanks Andrea

Off to Lebanon

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Just a quick post - I'm off to Lebanon for a week or so. I have scheduled a few post to update automatically. Hopefully will have new things to share when I get back.
Thanks everyone for your continued visits and wonderful comments.

Shi Sha No.4

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Something so harmful should not look so tempting and interesting .. and have so many shapes and falvours :-p

Alienation

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Inspired by my second collection of short stories in Arabic, waiting to be published, in this spread I have tried to capture this particular reflection .. you can read it in Arabic, English or French.

A very very short story

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Click here and tell me what you think.
Hugs.

Shi Sha No.3

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Yet another Shi Sha - don't they look lovely?

Shi Sha No.2

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

It seems I have started another series? Shi-sha, hubbly-bubbly, whatever you may call it, I love the shapes, colours, creativity and endless variety I can find here.

Messyfish commented on my post Social Shi Sha (which I will now call Shi Sha No.1) wondering if only men smoked them. I guess it seems that way. As far as I know, in the olden days, women used to smoke them, too, but behind closed doors and with other women. These days men and women smoke them openly. But recently there has been a ban on them in many places due to the harmfulness of tobacco -no one is really listening, though.

Manmade Canals - Dubai Mall

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Outside Dubai Mall, a canal was created - with waterways and bridges. There's also an amazing dancing fountain which sways and undulates to the traditional Gulf music of this region and to classics and opera, too. It is a stunning sight (I could not draw it - maybe I will try to capture it on video to share sometime). Sometimes I cannot make up my mind about whether or not I like manmade canals, waterways, souks, etc .. sometimes they seem too fake. Yet, if I surrender to the feeling of pleasure when I am within such surroundings, the pleasure is innocent and sincere. Is it truly 'fake' because its manmade? Or is it all the more creative because it was created by the hands of man?

Release

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, when things get too much, the best thing to do is just release -let them all go. Stop dwelling, stop trying to find solutions, stop wondering how things will end up. Just release. This page is about that. The hand is full of emotions - all sorts of emotions, and around it I have repeated the word Release. The red space I left empty. Not sure why; maybe to indicate peace of mind? Maybe to fill in later? What do you see?

Ugly Page

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

I don't feel I did a good job here. I feel this is an ugly page, and I was not going to post it until I read a blog post by Andrea - thanks to Zom - about ugly pages and their value. So, here they are, my strange looking fruits. But, I have to admit, I did have fun creating this page, and it was done in public, at the restaurant, and on their table.

In the corner of my mind

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

I painted this background a while ago and I liked it just as it was, so I didn't want to add to much on top. In the corner is the inner me - that drawer where I keep things that I don't want to think about too often (if I can help it) and from that emerges everything that I try to fill my days with.

In the left corner, I have written the name Sarah in Arabic. Actually, I wrote the name months ago when I was experimenting with caligraphy to give Sarah. I cut it out and glued it here because the softness and the curves just seemed to fit my mood for this page :-)

Partial Dubai Skyline

fadwa-wm@fadwa.com (The Gypsy) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

I went to the beach again early this morning, it's becoming a habit! A very soothing, rejuvenating habit. I am so grateful that I life somewhere that is so close to the sea; that I can go sit on the soft sand, listen to the sound of the waves, feel the cool breeze and read. I had forgotten how much the sea affects my very being. How it calms me and how it reminds me that the world is far bigger than just me. This is a negative space outline of part of the Dubai skyline as I saw it this morning.